The Philips Hue Inara comes with a white bulb, so you'll need to replace it yourself

While the Philips Hue Inara can take a Hue color bulb, it comes with a Philips Hue White A19 bulb as standard. In order to use a color bulb with the Inara, you'll need to open it up yourself and install your replacement bulb.

All you need to do is unscrew the small screws on the outside of the Inara — one on top, one on the bottom — then remove the main housing of the lantern. Then you just install your new bulb and you're good to go.

The replacement Hue bulb you should get

If you want to replace the bulb that comes with your Inara lantern with something more colorful, I suggest the Philips Hue White and Color Ambience Bulb. Like the included bulb, the White and Color Ambience is an A19/E26 bulb, so it will fit in most standard light bulb sockets, including the one found in the Inara.

What this replacement bulb adds

Adding a Philips Hue White and Color Ambience bulb to your Hue Inara allows you to make the outside of your home more colorful without painting your house. Just like the standard white bulb that comes with the Inara, the color Hue bulb is controlled through the Philips Hue app.

In the app, you have access to more than 16 million rich colors for your Hue White and Color Ambience bulb. You can set colors or intensity of your bulbs on the fly whenever you want, or create preset scenes that activate at certain times of the day. If you use HomeKit devices, you can integrate your Hue lights into the rest of your smart home setup, letting them work with your other smart accessories.

Will being in the Inara impact the battery life of a Hue color bulb?

Hue's color bulbs are LED, mean that they should last a long time. In fact, Hue's bulbs are rated for a battery life of up to 25,000 hours, giving you years of life before they need to be replaced. While your bulb might experience decreased overall life by putting it in an enclosure, it should still be a long time before any issues make themselves apparent.

Our pick

If you want a nice outdoor enclosure for your Hue smart bulb, the Inara lantern is as simple as it gets. While it comes with a white bulb out of the box, you can easily replace it with one of Philips' more colorful options.

A colorful option

The 'standard' Philips Hue color bulb, the White and Color Ambiance can easily replace the included bulb in the Hue Inara lantern and help you light up the outside of your house with 16 million colors.

Joseph Keller

Joseph Keller is a senior writer at iMore. An Apple user for more than a decade and a half, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Can you use a Philips Hue Color bulb with the Inara Outdoor Wall Lantern?